Lockheed's RQ-170 drone used in mission to capture Venezuelan leader

Lockheed Martin has publicly confirmed the operational use of its secretive RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone in a high-risk U.S. military mission targeting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2023, known as Operation Absolute Resolve. During a quarterly earnings call, CEO Jim Taiclet revealed that the RQ-170 operated alongside F-35 and F-22 fighter jets and Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters, marking one of the few official acknowledgments of the drone’s real-world deployment. Visual evidence emerged showing RQ-170 drones arriving at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico, a key hub for the operation, further corroborating their involvement. The RQ-170 Sentinel, developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works and nicknamed the “Beast of Kandahar,” has been linked to several high-profile intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions since its first public identification in the late 2000s. These include monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, supporting the